KPK Explains Why It Took Long to Decide to Detain Former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut

Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) finally detained former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on Thursday, 12 March 2026. Yaqut faces charges in a corruption case involving the hajj quota scheme at the Religious Affairs Ministry.

KPK Deputy for Enforcement and Execution Asep Guntur Rahayu acknowledged that the process of detaining Yaqut had indeed taken considerable time. Asep stated that he preferred not to rush the handling of the case.

“Why did it take so long? We did not want to rush,” said Asep during a press conference on Thursday, 12 March 2026.

Asep explained that time was needed to compile evidence and statements. As a result, the option to detain Yaqut was prolonged by the KPK.

The KPK had initially refrained from immediately detaining Yaqut after he was named a suspect. The KPK finally detained Yaqut following the dismissal of his pre-trial challenge.

“We wanted to complete the evidence as part of our enforcement efforts, and furthermore, from a formal perspective, what the KPK investigators did has already been tested in a pre-trial hearing which was decided on 19 March 2026, where the pre-trial challenge was rejected,” said Asep.

Thanks to the rejection of the pre-trial challenge, Asep expressed confidence that the designation of Yaqut as a suspect had been properly conducted according to procedure.

“This means that the designation of Yaqut as a suspect by KPK investigators is already correct formally,” said Asep.